Memorial University will receive $50 million over the next five
years to support an unprecedented health-care initiative that will
provide enhanced, personalized patient care through collaborative,
multidisciplinary research.

Less than 20 per cent of applied medical research is translated
into a possible device, medication or therapy; the launch of the
new Translational and Personalized Medicine Initiative (TPMI) aims
to change that by bringing bench research to the patient's
bedside.

Through the TPMI, patients will benefit from the latest and most
innovative discoveries in health research, designed to improve
health outcomes that have been specifically identified for
them.

Partners in the TPMI are the Government of Canada through the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Atlantic
Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the Government of Newfoundland
and Labrador, jurisdictional partners and private-sector partner
IBM.

Approximately $50 million will be invested in this program over
the next five years, in partnership with Memorial University:

A combined investment of $30 million from IBM, including $10
million in equipment and staffing and a further $20 million in-kind
investment for big data and analytics
software

Nearly $13 million from the Government of Canada through the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research SPOR SUPPORT Units program
($10 million) and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency ($3
million)

$7.2 million from the Government of Newfoundland and
Labrador

The initiative is made up of two major programs - the
Newfoundland and Labrador Support Unit and the Centre of Health
Informatics and Analytics

Newfoundland and Labrador Support for People and
Patient-Oriented Research and Trials (NL SUPPORT)

The NL SUPPORT Program is part of a network of provincial and
regional centres across Canada that brings together patients,
policymakers, researchers, funders and health-care professionals.
The program is focused on creating resources that facilitate
patient-oriented research in consultation with local stakeholders
to provide patients with the latest and most innovative practices,
therapies and policies for improved health outcomes.

NL SUPPORT was created to provide the necessary infrastructure,
training and tools required to allow patient-oriented research to
thrive in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Centre for Health Informatics and Analytics
(CHIA)

CHIA will facilitate research into patient outcomes and offer
insight into how services may be improved through the use of
high-performance computational infrastructure and de-identified
patient datasets.

Memorial researchers will have access to one of Atlantic
Canada's fastest computing environments. Each project undertaken
under CHIA will comply with the Personal Health Information Act
legislated with the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and will
also require research ethics board approval.

Projects under TPMI utilizing CHIA will address issues such as
colorectal cancer, long-term care and laboratory utilization as
well as others.

The integration of data will be governed under provincial
privacy and ethics legislation.

Quotes:

"This collaborative partnership between public and private
sectors is a significant investment both in Memorial University and
in the health and well-being of the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador," said Dr. Gary Kachanoski, president and vice-chancellor,
Memorial University. "We are proud to be to be part of this
ground-breaking initiative which would be impossible without the
support and resources of our partners."

"The overall goal of the TPMI is a collaborative approach to
enhance the use of health-care resources," said Dr. James Rourke,
dean, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University. "Increasing our
capacity to bring evidence into the health care system and clinical
practice can only result in improved health outcomes for patients
and their families."

"Our government recognizes that fostering innovation and
commercialization, through programs like ACOA's Atlantic Innovation
Program, is important to meeting our top priority of creating jobs
and long-term economic growth," said David Wells, senator, on
behalf of Rob Moore, regional minister for Newfoundland and
Labrador and minister of State (ACOA). "Partnering with academia
and the private sector to invest in projects like the Translational
Personalized Medicine Initiative helps build Atlantic Canada's
reputation for innovation and makes significant contributions to
the region's R&D and economic performance."

"Memorial University will be working with our community to bring
about true change in the planning and delivery of health-care
services, and ensure that those changes respond to the needs of the
public," said Paul Davis, premier, Newfoundland and Labrador. "We
are contributing over $7 million to this important partnership
which will bring increased research knowledge into our health
facilities to assist with getting the best treatment to
patients."

"This collaboration is a terrific example of government,
business and academia teaming to meet important economic and social
needs through advanced research and innovation," said Ralph
Chapman, vice-president, public sector, for IBM in Canada. "This
collaborative model will provide researchers with IBM big data and
analytics technology and expertise to more quickly manage and
analyze massive data sets around critical health-care challenges
and ultimately, help improve patient outcomes."

"For every 100 discoveries achieved at the lab bench, only 15
ever make it to the real world in the form of new therapies or
treatments, revised practice guidelines or

better health policies," said Dr. Patrick Parfrey, chief
scientific officer, TMPI. "There is a clear and defined need in
Canada for research to focus on getting the right treatment to the
right patient at the right time."

"The SPOR SUPPORT Units provide a vehicle for sharing best
practices between jurisdictions," said Dr. Jane E. Aubin, chief
scientific officer and vice-president research, knowledge,
translation and ethics, Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

"With Newfoundland and Labrador now on board, we have taken
another step toward a cohesive national partnership that will see
evidenced-based research embedded in health-care delivery and
patient care."